Monday, December 31, 2007

Cheers to being home and sleeping in my own bed! Cheers to the peace and quiet that we are currently enjoying. Ah so many things to be happy about.

Sadly, Scott is not one of those things - he is in the middle of fretting about this evening's festivities. "It's too expensive, I don't have anything to wear, I don't know half the people" - sometimes he whines more than a girl - jeesh! We're off to dinner soon and then we're heading over to J&M's for hot tubbing, and ringing in the new year. Not sure how many are joining us, but it's quite a few - still should be fun.

Have I mentioned that I've never gone out for new years before? So, I'm not going to let him whine his way out - we're dressing up and we're going out and we're going to have fun! I'm not letting him or the impending winter storm ruin it.

Holidalies is just one short day away, so I'll be blogging hungover tomorrow - expect it to be short and maybe a bit garbled.

Cheers to one and all - wishing you all a happy and safe New Year's celebration!

Thursday, December 27, 2007

This is going home for the holidays. This is every friend and relative that you've ever had demanding more time from you than you ever gave them when you lived close by. This is every moment of your trip scheduled so that you can see the most people in the least amount of time. This is exhausting.

A vacation is somewhere warm, sandy, sunny and quiet. It does not include children screaming, malls, construction at 7am, after Christmas shopping, overeating (well maybe that one is a bit much), traffic, fighting or crying. So far I have experienced all of the above - and yet everyone continues to ask "How's your vacation going?".

I'm sure I've said this before, but please someone remind me next year - that I do not want to go home for the holidays!

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Is that what you say? Or do you just say it's Boxing Day? Being here in the U.S. it's hard to know, since it's not something we celebrate.

This comes up though, because last night we all sat around an put together a billion little boxes, they were actually cardboard boxes made to look like bricks to build a fort. But the point is someone said "Oh I though Boxing day was tomorrow?!"

What is Boxing Day you ask? Well here's what Wikipedia has to say about it:"Boxing Day is a public holiday celebrated in the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Australia and many other members of the Commonwealth of Nations on December 26, the day after Christmas Day;".

Apparently in the UK as well as New Zealand and Australia it's a day for family and an extension of Christmas. In Canada however, it seems to be much more commercial - it's all about shopping. In either case, it sounds like a great thing to have an extra day off to enjoy the season - whichever way you prefer!

Sunday, December 23, 2007

See, I do actually do work now and then! I found this in my wanderings. Pantone Industries, bringers of all things color, have introduced their color for the year for 2008 (drum roll please)...

It's Blue Iris, No. 18-3943!

Apparently this color "brings together the dependable aspects of blue, underscored by a strong, soul-searching purple cast. Emotionally, it is anchoring and meditative with a touch of magic.” The color was chosen by a select team because they "felt that it answered several needs, hopes, desires, that kind of thing,”.

Now I love color - I love most of them generally. Color can do so much, improve your mood, make you hungry, make you feel stressed out or amorous - it's a powerful tool. But I never really felt that color could answer needs, hopes or desires. Really if I known all that I'd have painted my entire house this color!

So, I'm off to look for Iris Blue anything - pillows, paint, rugs, PJ's what ever - cause I have a few needs and desires that need answering (and who among us doesn't need a tough of magic?)!

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Not much happening here today - well, that's not right, there's a lot it's just not interesting.

I've spent the morning doing laundry and starting to clean the house. I still have to go to the restaurant tonight and work tomorrow so I'm trying to pack a lot of things into a small amount of time. I am having motivational issues though - I'm currently sitting with a cat on my lap, all warm and cozy. It's going to be tough to get everything done!

I did manage to take some time to do the Smart or Stoopid? test over on Scoober's blog, that was fun, and I actually did better than I expected!

Verdict: Smart Average Score is 17.9 Your Score is 22 You are 22.8% smarter than average

(Here's the part where I tell you that I committed at least 7 typos, and couldn't find the percent sign as I typed the results - so really how smart is smart?)

Oh I almost forgot - Happy Solstice! I'm super excited about that. Today is the longest day of the year - which means I'll get .7 seconds of daylight (well that's how it feels anyway) today. So why am I excited? Because from here on in the days get longer! And that means that soon I won't have to wake up in the dark and go home in the dark, and generally live in the dark.

Okay - I'm off to do something interesting, just so that I have something to post about!

Friday, December 21, 2007

I'm sorry I've been so lame lately! You'd think being busy would mean tons of fodder for the blog, but not really - it just means busy. I haven't had time to stop by everyone's blogs and visit, or just enjoy reading blogs. I'm woefully backed up on the tivo and I have no idea when I'm going to watch anything.

On the bright side I think I made some good progress on the to do list - well except for the work thing. But I've still got the weekend to work on that.

I never really talk about my job, except to say how busy I am. But I guess why should I post about what I do, when I can get some one to do it for me! Alright, so she doesn't exactly do it for me, but she makes it sound fun and exciting (which most of the time it isn't). Anyway, I figure if you wanted to be reading about the ins and outs of kitchen design, you'd be there and not here listening to me whine!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

I'm turning into one of those people that take too many pictures of their cats and dog. I suppose it's not bad - I don't have kids, and Scott hates having pictures taken - and face it the dog and cats are pretty damn cute.

Still, I didn't figure me for that kind of blogger - I wanted to be the cool kind, that has lots of funny quips and posts about world events. I guess I'm already a bit wide of that mark, so here goes...

How cute is this - you can barely see where the cat leaves off and the dog begins!

Plus - I'm totally busy at work today and later tonight, so this gets my Holidailies out of the way!

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

To live in Michigan that is. While it doesn't always have a lot to recommend it, but this is one of those good reasons:

Yep, spectacular sunsets (alright, this isn't one of my better shots, but I can't find the one I want to post)! You would think, Hawaii or California would have the best, and I've seen a few of each of those -they're good, no doubt. But there's something about a winter sunset here - just beautiful! I will concede that you need a nice winter day, which can be few and far between, but give a girl a few points from trying.

Monday, December 17, 2007

All right, I admit it - I go to a tanning booth. It's a bit of a habit, but I can stop any time, really, I swear.

The first winter I moved here I was miserable, I was depressed, I could barely get out and do things. I figured that I was just having trouble adjusting, or missing my family. After spending a week at home with my family for Thanksgiving I realized it wasn't that I missed my family - I missed the sun!

It seemed that the only way I was going to get some sun was to go and buy it. I weighed the pros and cons - thought it through and then went out and bought some 15 SPF. It was a bit strange, I didn't know where to go, I didn't know what to do or how much it would cost. But I did it - and now I couldn't be happier (and Scott too - now come mid-November when I start getting grouchy he says "Isn't it time for you to start tanning?").

So now, from Mid-November to April or May (depends on the way Spring is going) I tan a couple of nights a week. I just pop in for 5 to 7 minutes of light and heat and happiness. When I come out of the tanning bed, I'm so warm and cozy, I feel like I'm glowing. Even coming home to a messy house, bad dog and pissy husband barely makes a dent on my fabulous mood - of course that makes me want to do it more often.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

I woke up to a "Blizzard Warning" - while we slept we'd been upgraded from a Winter Storm Watch. But a Blizzard Warning isn't so bad on a Sunday morning when you don't have any thing else to do right? At 9am the day was filled with promise, the promise of a fire, a couple of movies on DVD, catching up on reading blogs, working on the Christmas Cards and of course more snow.

I'm not sure when it happened, maybe it's when I had to spend 20 minutes combing the snow off the dog, or maybe it was when I burned my fingers on the heat tool I was using on the cards, but at some point my good mood turned into a supremely crappy one.

The cards are still not done, the house isn't clean, the laundry isn't done, the Christmas shopping isn't done, there's so much to do and Monday is on it's way. Crap.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Come to think of it, I haven't told you why I'm so busy. Remember that wine thing I told you about? Well I decided to do it. So on Friday and every other Saturday nights (I just can't give up all of my pitiful social life), I present wine, offer suggestions on wine parings and back up the wait staff.

So far I've worked two nights, waited on four tables and poured a couple of bottles of wine. Strangely enough, it's kind of fun. I'm meeting some new gals, tasting some good food and making some really nice tips.

Scott thinks I'll get tired and burn-out in a month. I told him that it's a new restaurant in a less than happening spot - it might not be open long enough for me to burn out (of course I'm not wishing for that, but let's be realistic). But you know, a little extra spending money and some new experiences - so far so good!

Well, I'm off to do some real work, email some plans then head off to my new work! (see I'm a busy girl!)

Friday, December 14, 2007

Me: What's that noise?Scott: What noise?Me:That noise.Scott: Oh that? Umm, Pearl's into something.Me: It doesn't sound good - what is it?Scott: She's chewing on the basketMe: Well stop her, she shouldn't be chewing on that.Scott: Oh she's got some kind of plastic thing. Wait, no that's bad she shouldn't be chewing on that - I think.Me: Well stop her.Scott: Oh, should I?Me: Ya think?

Yeah - kids might not survive Scott, there are some days I'm not sure the animals can.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Forgot to go to my first morning appointment. Dashed off to my appointment an hour late, fell in the snow, dusted myself off and found that no one was there.

Had a client coming in and forgot (was busy reading blogs - doh!). As we were going over the kitchen design I realized I had forgotten the microwave and the dishwasher - recovered relatively gracefully.

Left work early (though it was probably for the best) to take the dog to the vet. On the way home I stopped at the craft store for yet another component to the holiday cards from hell. I cleared off the front seat, knowing that George would pop up there the second I left the car. As I walked away from the car I realized that I had just locked my keys in the car - with my dog. Twenty calls, ten minutes, and two wonderful men (should I mention that neither of the men that helped me were my husband?) trying to rescue me later I was back in the car with my dog and on the road again. That's when I realized that I had not gone in the store to purchase the item for which I had come! Went back and bought the stinking pen.

Got home, Scott took a couple of pot shots at me and my keen memory. I told him to get in his basement before I kicked his ass - he did as told.

I settled into making dinner - got the rice started, and moved on to the rest. 10 minutes into the rice's cooking time I realized I hadn't actually turned on the oven so that it could cook. So 20 minutes later we ate.

Sat down to relay my spectacular day to you all and could not log into blogger. Finally realized it was because I was trying to use a work password on the account.

So, now I've got a fire going (and haven't burned down the house yet) and I'm going to sit in front of the TV for a bit with a glass of wine and kill off a few more of my ridiculously useless brain cells.

Runner's up were: facebook, conundrum and quixotic, as well as a few more.

It is spelled with two zeros in place of the 'o's - because of some computer gaming thingy. I haven't decided what I think of the whole blending of letters and numbers to form words - but maybe I'm getting old. Sadly it's only the on-line word of the year, and not actually found in the dictionary - but apparently taking top honors could improve it's chances of gaining entry to the big book.

The Global Language Monitor also released it's top words for the year today and they were just a wee bit more hi-brow: Hybrid (actually Hybrid Electric Vehicle - HEV), Surge and Bubble (as in the housing bubble bursting). I did like the fourth word "Smirting – The new-found art of flirting while being banished outside a building for smoking".

I do worry for the future of our culture from time to time - this is one of those times.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

I promised Just Laura that I'd do this meme - and since I don't have much time and I don't have much else to talk about, it seems a perfect time to do it!

It's supposed to be five things about me, but I just did 100, so I'm guessing that you're sort of tired of hearing about me. And since I'm not feeling particularly serious or deep I think I'll do a list of strange things currently in my purse (yes, that is indeed a picture of the inside of my purse!):

1. One sun glass lens - it's out of a pair that I broke a while ago, but the color is so perfect to look through that I've been seeking a match for months.

2. Corkscrew - now that's not really all that strange, but it's not something the average person carries around. But you never know when you'll be called upon to open a bottle, so it's a useful tool.

3. Four Empty Gum Packs (which I am now taking out) - clearly I need to clean my purse more often, so not chew as much gum - one or the other.

4. Little Metal Foot - not a real foot shaped foot, but one of the little feet off the bottom of one of my other purses. Though I'm not exactly sure how it ended up in this purse.

5. A 100 Calorie Snack Pack of Gold Fish - how long they've been at the bottom of my purse I'm not sure, but I can tell you that they are no longer gold fish.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Ok this is where the whole Holidailies/NaBloPoMo thing gets irritating.

I got home about 20 minutes ago - had to make dinner and am just sitting down to look at this blog. I've been working all day (actually working, not goofing off!), I've got laundry to finish, I've got holiday cards to finish and a bunch more work to get done.

But am I doing it - nope, I'm posting to the blog (probably boring the pants off you with all my whining). My overwhelming sense of responsibility makes me feel like I MUST post.

There are so many hurdles to the holidays, what made me think that I should add another?!

Oh yeah - and there's an ice storm headed this way, what the heck is that?! And what do I do about it?

Sunday, December 09, 2007

No really, I will be home for Christmas. Yeah, I'm super pumped - can ya tell?

Being home Christmas isn't really negotiable in my house. My little Mom may seem all easy going, but when it comes to having everyone home for Christmas, well she's not as easy going as she may seem!

So $700 something dollars later we have tickets booked to fly home for the holidays. We'll fly our on Christmas Eve and head back on the 30th, just in time for what ever New Years debauchery we can figure out. I'm hoping that by showing up just before Santa that the rush and stress will be lessened - but really who am I kidding?

Saturday, December 08, 2007

So then he tells me that he heard on the news that this season Mall Santas are being told not to say "ho, ho, ho" - since it could offend women. I thought he was joking, there's just no way that some one could actually take offense with Santa, right?

I try to be politically correct, I realize that others have thinner skins than I do, but really?!

Friday, December 07, 2007

Today is Pearl Harbor Day, the "Day that shall live in Infamy". There have been plenty of wars since then, and we've since worse attacks on American soil, but we can't loose sight of this day just because of the newer, fresher wounds.

Every anniversary there are fewer and fewer survivors. Imagine, those that were 18 would be 84 now - we're loosing a generation of heroes and survivors.

December 7th 1941, my Dad was about to turn six months old and my Mom wasn't even born yet. My Grandparents we're living in Oakland, my Grandfather a family surgeon, my Grandmother a housewife.

I've been to Pearl Harbor, and I've seen the Arizona Memorial - it was moving, even at the age of 16. I'd love to go back though, it seems as I age that history means more.

Thursday, December 06, 2007

Today we have a special musical guest - here's Adam Sandler doing the third version of his Chanukah Song (one of my favorites):

Now on to more important things, Latkes.

Latkes are just potato pancakes, but damn are they good. There are different ways to make them, some use shredded potatoes some use mashed (though I'm not a big fan of the mashed variety). But you've got to love the fact that eating food cooked in oil is part of the Hanukkah tradition. It is meant to represent the small amount of oil the Jews had when defending the Temple - miraculously the oil lasted for eight days. So foods that are commonly served at Hanukkah include doughnuts, fritters of all sorts, and any other fried vegetable (particularly squash) - woo hoo!

So here's my favorite recipe for Latkes, it's from Louise Fiszer, a woman I used to work with years ago. She's a great recipe writer (she use to test her new recipes on us, that was an excellent perk) and has done a number of books.

Grate potatoes and place in strainer or colander. Squeeze out as much moisture from potatoes as you can. In large bowl, combine potatoes with remaining ingredients, except for oil. Heat about 1/4 cup oil in large frying pan until very hot. Drop two to three tablespoons potato mixture into pan for each latke. Use back of spoon to flatten mixture so that each latke is about three-inches in diameter. Fry over medium high heat about four to five minutes per side. Drain on paper towels and keep warm in oven. Continue, using more oil if necessary for each batch. Serve hot with an apple-pear sauce.

Scott prefers his with sour cream - I like either sour cream or apple sauce. Last year I made a great homemade apple sauce (I know, how perky!) - try it if you have the time.

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

So yesterday I was feeling all sentimental and got wrapped up in our family traditions, and I forgot to say how fun Hanukkah is! So here are eight reasons (get it, eight nights?):

1. Playing Dreidel - though we never actually play, we just eat the candy. Whoever eats the most candy wins! I used to put out the traditional "gelt" but now I get more adult and put out truffles or something.

2. Decorating - I decorate for Christmas, but if I only did Hanukkah it would be 2 minutes of getting stuff together and that's it. Well I supposed I'd still do the icicle lights on the outside of the house.

3. Presents - "Eight Crazy Nights" as Adam Sandler says - that's right eight nights of presents! We usually set a budget and sometimes blow it on all on one gift or spread it out. Now we have one rule - there have to be eight nights of presents, even if you blew you budget on a couple of items (so I usually get a couple really good presents and a lot of candy - works for me!).

4. Latkes - There's nothing like 'em! We make them a couple of times during Hanukkah. I supposed that I should make them more often than one week a year, but my laziness seems to make them that much more special.

5. Timing - The date for Hanukkah is based on the Jewish calendar, so it's a bit of a moving target, but usually it is earlier than Christmas, so I get all of Scott's shopping done, then once it's done I get started really worrying about every one's Christmas presents.

6. The spelling - You just can't get it wrong (or right). There are at least three different ways to spell it, and a lot of people don't even know how to spell it, so I'm never wrong!

7. Sunset - That's when you're supposed to light the candles. So I get a get out of jail free card to leave work a bit early so I can get home to celebrate.

8. Eight Nights - I love that we get to be a family eight nights in a row - without all the stress of the single night of family celebration (don't get me wrong, I do love Christmas, but it's way higher on the stress scale).

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

I was raised as a generic Christian, though technically I'm Episcopalian. Scott was raised full-on Jewish, but stopped practising after his Bar Mitzvah (when he "became a man" - which in reality still has yet to happen, but that's another post). So neither one of us is particularly religious.

We've always celebrated Christmas together and we've always had a menorah around during the holiday season. The year that Scott's dad died we both sort of felt like actually lighting the candles. Still it was just sort of a thing we did - nothing really serious.

Once we moved to Michigan and had to fly home for Christmas we realized that we didn't want to schlep our presents for each other across the country, but we wanted to have our own holiday time together. So we decided to begin celebrating Hanukkah together.

Now I love it - we have a special spot in the house for our menorah, and together we say the blessing together. Religious or not, it's nice to have our own holiday tradition.

Monday, December 03, 2007

I was feeling fine this morning, still finishing off the cold I got on the plane, but no big deal. Then I took a bit of Robitussin to help with the cough - that was the mistake.

Let's just say that it tastes pretty bad going down, and there's no improvement going the other direction! So I've been laying low today - a few saltines and some Vernor's, and working from home.

On the bright side, I've finalized the design for our holiday card - so now all I have to do is make a billion of them and get them out within the next two weeks! No prob!

Since everyone else is doing it, and really what's a few more when you're making a billion cards, I'd be happy to swap cards with any one that's willing! Just email me at mandylou_who@yahoo.com and give me your data and I'll add you to the ridiculously long list of family and friends that don't really deserve a handmade card (no - not you, you totally deserve a handmade card).

Sunday, December 02, 2007

And I quote "It looks like one of Santa's Elves threw up in here." This is what passes for a complement from my darling husband regarding the Christmas decor in my home.

On the bright side the tree is up (well, unboxed and decorated) and the house is all done up (I'd post pictures, but my friend borrowed my uploader do-hicky). I danced about with the holiday songs on my ipod - shaking my bootie and decking the halls. Sadly, I still have the lights to do outside, but I'll get them done - I promise, really.

For reasons that are just to long and drawn out to explain - this is our first year with a fake tree. In fact this is our first time with a tree in our house since we moved (three years!). Our dog and our two kittens have never seen a Christmas tree (so we'll see how that goes?!) - I'm not sure that the tree can take any of them.

Anyway, back to the fake tree thing. I think that given that it started off life looking like this - that it turned out pretty well. Actually as long as you look at it an night with the lights out and sqidge up you eyes a bit it looks totally real!

I'll tell you what - fake trees with the lights attached may not look or smell real, but they rock when it comes to putting up Christmas in a hurry. Most of the time was spent putting up the decorations around the house, rather than the tree itself. And I didn't have to worry about pine needles all over the floor!

Current Music: White Christmas - Bing Crosby (though we lost all the white that we got yesterday - it's pouring rain right now)

Saturday, December 01, 2007

Hey look - I'm posting, does that mean... nah, still haven't decided about the Holidailies, but I thought I'd post today anyway (just in case).

Actually it's just a way to delay going out into the cheek chilling cold to put the lights up on the front of the house. Of course I also have to clean the house and decorate for the Holidays.

Let's circle back to "Cheek Chilling" shall we? In my house that phrase is used to describe not the cute rosy cheeked variety - I mean the other cheeks. I have no idea how my ass can get so cold. I mean sure it's big and it's all fat, but who knew it could get so freaking cold that it hurts?!

All right, enough about my ass - I'll get back to decorating, and maybe I'll swing by Holidailies and sign up, what have I got to loose?

Wondering about the picture? Well, it's World AIDS Day, which isn't nearly as fun as National Ice Cream Day, but more important (it is, right?). So follow the link and give a few bucks if you can, we gotta get rid of this disease.

Current Music: To Build A Home - The Cinematic Orchestra (ok, not actually listening per se, I'm watching the end of the Grey's rerun and that's the song that's on - but I do have the song in my play list and I could be listening to it)